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Patch 4.3 PTR: Valor and conquest point changes

Bashiok has just announced new valor point and conquest point changes coming with patch 4.3 that aim to de-emphasize the collection of valor points as a primary way to gear up for content. Both 10- and 25-man versions of the Dragon Soul raid will give 100 VPs per boss, down from 115 and 135, and Firelands bosses will only give 50 points each. The changes are intended to encourage killing bosses for loot rather than killing bosses for valor points to purchase loot. One can also surmise that the change is being introduced to give players more of a reason to try the new Raid Finder feature, where bosses drop loot with a unique power level.

On the PvP side of the equation, the number of conquest points received for the first daily Battleground is increasing to 100 up from 25, allowing players to work toward their conquest point caps quicker while not feeling like they have to run Rated Battlegrounds or Arenas. Both Rated Battlegrounds and Arenas will still earn players points more quickly, but this change should allow those players who prefer regular Battlegrounds to not be left in the dust.

I cannot help but wonder, other than what has already been explained, what the motivation is behind further changing the raid game to make 10- and 25-man raiding so similar. While I have raided in both size groups and enjoy both types of environment, a 25-man raiding guild at this time is at a severe disadvantage when it comes to encounter difficulty. We just reported yesterday that over 1,000 guilds have killed heroic Ragnaros, with a majority of those kills on the 10-man size. It is readily becoming apparent that the only reason to raid with a 25-man group is that of personal choice as opposed to mechanical differences. What confuses me is the insistence on the 25-man raid size for the Raid Finder, when 25-mans are further being de-emphasized.

Badges and valor points originally were the consolation prize for not being lucky with your drops in dungeons. Back in The Burning Crusade, you augmented your gear with badge gear because something that you needed just wouldn't drop. Now, valor point gear is a necessary step in gearing up your character. I understand the reasons for slowing valor acquisition and agree with those sentiments. However, is it worth lowering the desire to do 25-man raiding even more for those guilds out there that still raid in the 25-man raid size? How many of them are left that really care? I'd love to know why we are still raiding 25-man raid instances.

Patch 4.3 Valor point change

We've made slight adjustments to the Valor Point (VP) drops on the 4.3 PTR which testers can now see. In both 10- and 25-player raids, bosses will now drop 100 VP each (down from 115 and 135 respectively). We'll also be changing Firelands raid bosses to drop 50 VP per kill upon release of the patch.

This change is being made to further emphasize the desire to kill bosses for the items they drop. In the 4.3 raid, tier sets can only be earned from boss drops, and as Raid Finder will allow for just about anyone to get a chance to kill bosses, we think there will be less need for Valor overall. We want to try to match the lower desire for VP with a slightly slower acquisition rate.

We appreciate your thoughts and constructive discussion on how these changes may affect you and your guild once 4.3 is released.

Quote: I thought one of the incentives to do 25 man over 10 was to get more points, so cap faster for the week?

Wow, that idea didn't even last the expansion it was put in for, did it?

Our goal remains to make 25s slightly more rewarding to help offset the logistical challenges inherit in 25-player raiding, but we didn't think extra Valor was a strong incentive for those players since they tend to run out of uses for Valor pretty quickly, which will be even more true in 4.3.

In patch 4.3 we're changing the daily battleground (BG) to reward 100 conquest for a win (up from 25). In addition, every non-rated BG that you win will also give you 50 conquest. There is no limit to how many BGs you can run this way, up to the normal conquest cap.

Our intent is to start acting even more on our Mists of Pandaria philosophies of encouraging players to approach the content they want to, how they want to, and be able to work toward meaningful player progression. Arenas and rated battlegrounds will still earn Conquest faster, but with this change you can now work your way up by running normal BGs, if you so choose.